Thursday, January 6, 2011

Thursday 13 - Paying it Forward

Today started off as a bit of a wash. I was woken around 4:30 this morning by a pretty nasty nightmare. I've been feeling a little run down this week already, so when I did go back to bed around 630 (which was just to wake the sweetness up) I ended up falling back asleep, and didn't get up again until 230 this afternoon. I missed a good chunk of the day. Sigh.

Thankfully, when I was conscious enough to check my email, I found a reminder from Jodi at Living Life Photographically about a pay it forward program I am now involved with. Then I remembered that I hadn't missed out on everything today, because today is Thursday 13. My newest fun blog activity. So I spent what was left of my afternoon resting, and digging up some interesting information for y'all.

I promise to send something handmade to the first 3 people who leave a comment request here.

To be eligible, you must also post this in your blog, offering the same thing to 3 other people.

The rules are that it must be handmade by you and it must be sent to your 3 people *sometime* in 2011.

2. Love Bomb

Another lovely thing I found in my mailbox today was this week's Love Bomb.

Love Bomb is a project of ItStartsWith.Us. Once a week we come together to drop hundreds of love bombs (in the form of blog comments) for those who need it most. Subscribe via email & join us in our missions. It only takes 5 minutes a week!

3. Heal with a Meal

Brooke, at Learning the Language of Brooke Farmer is the driving force behind a new and upcoming project called Heal with a Meal, in California, and hopefully much farther.

The premise of Heal With a Meal is that if we each took a few minutes once a month to purchase a meal for one homeless person, shake their hand and get to know them a little bit- as a person- then we could have a huge impact.

5. Get inspired by "Pay It Forward" the Book, written by Catherine Ryan Hyde, and the Movie based on the book.

Since the book was released in January of 2000, a real-life social movement has emerged, not just in the U.S. but worldwide. What began as a work of fiction has already become much more.

6. Visit Catherine Ryan Hyde's foundation. You can apply for grants or invite them into school based projects and get free wrist bands and bumper stickers.

The Pay It Forward Foundation was established ... to educate and inspire students to realize that they can change the world, and provide them with opportunities to do so.

7. Share your Pay it Forward story, or read others

Pay It Forward Foundation board member Charley Johnson has introduced a new web site, a great location where anybody and everybody can submit their PAY IT FORWARD stories and also post comments, visit the website here.

8. Celebrate Pay it Forward Day. Their website claims it is only 111 days away :)

10. Grab a Smile Card from HelpOthers.org - I read a lovely story of them in use here

11. Get a trackable card from Jenny Sims movement Quality of Life Foundation.You can hear her in interview with KPCW here.

12. KPHO Arizona - CBS 5 News series "Pay It Forward". If you're in their neighbourhood, get involved. If not, see if your local station will do something similar.

Here’s how it works: Each week we give a viewer $500. That viewer has just 60 minutes to give the money away to someone who needs a little boost in life. So what's the hitch? You can't give it to a family member, and our cameras must be able to come along

10 comments:

Can I just say...I think you are awesome. I love that you mention Brooke Farmer. She is one of my new favorites and will be guesting posting later this month. I too am eager to get her word out there in the world. AND have I got a free hugs video for you. Shall we do a free hugs campaign ourselves??? Yes. I think we shall. xoxoxo

What a fun and awesome list! And not just because I am on it, but thank you for that!

I am just waiting for some logo designs to come back for Heal With a Meal so I can get the site up, but if you want to participate now (or any of your readers want to) I can include your story on the site when it launches. Just send me an email about your experience bringing a meal to someone who is homeless to healwithameal at gmail. The hope is to have a website full of great stories that will inspire others to jump on board.

Wow- great resources! You are a rockstar for compiling such a great list:) Kind Over Matter is a blog I frequent, also, when looking for inspiration. I've done quite a few "card drops" over the past year thanks to their free printables and my lessening sense of embarassment at being "caught" leaving something somewhere to be found:)